Region Archives: Canada West

In late June, British Columbia and the federal government announced that they’ve helped non-profit foundations and trusts buy eight parcels of land from private owners for old-growth conservation, largely on and around Vancouver Island. But all but one of the forests included in this purchase announcement do not contain old-growth trees defined by the B.C. government. …Instead, seven of the eight purchased properties contain what’s called “recruitment” old-growth — that is, forests that have been logged. For Torrance Coste (Wilderness Committee) buying these lands to protect them from future threats of logging and development is important, both ecologically and for reconciliation. But it’s dishonest to announce this as a win, particularly as old-growth logging continues. A spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry said… “These recruitment old growth trees are technically second growth [are] important because “they are expected to develop old forest characteristics sooner than other second growth forests.”

British Columbia’s deputy chief forester has set the new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for Tree Farm Licence 3 (TFL) located north of Castlegar. The new AAC for the TFL is 56,100 cubic metres. This is a 30% reduction from the previous AAC, while remaining in line with the average harvest level in the past 12 years. The new level reflects adjustments made to account for lower harvest performance on slopes greater than 50%. New AAC levels have also been set for Tree Farm Licence 23 (TFL), located northwest of Castlegar, near Arrow Lake. The new AAC for the TFL is 382,800 cubic metres. This is a 7% reduction from the previous AAC, while remaining above the average annual harvest level of the past 12 years. The Province and First Nations have worked with industry to defer harvest of at-risk old-growth forest while work progresses on long-term approaches to old-growth management in the Kootenay-Boundary region. [Tree Frog has combined two government press releases into this single story – links to each are provided in the text above]

The Fur-Bearers, a B.C.-based wildlife charity says it continues to be concerned about the number of black bears killed by conservation officers in the province. Last year 603 black bears were put down, according to data obtained by the Fur-Bearers through a Freedom of Information request. That’s 68 more than the annual average of 535 since 2015, when the Fur-Bearers began tracking the numbers. Executive director, Lesley Fox, said part of the sudden jump may be attributable to 2023’s record-breaking wildfire season, which would have displaced wildlife and possibly reduced their natural food sources, sending them to urban areas to look for alternatives. There, attractants are a constant issue … increasing the likelihood of some kind of conflict or the bear become too habituated. If the BC Conservation Officer Service then determines the bear poses some kind of threat to public safety, it may decide to put it down.

Steven Guilbeault

The federal government is spending $89 million to fund 10 greenhouse gas emission reduction projects as the government works toward the goal of conserving 30 per cent of the country’s land and water by 2030. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault made the announcement in British Columbia on Thursday, where he said the “evidence of climate change is striking,” referencing extreme weather events including flooding, drought and “devastating” wildfire seasons. “With the goal of reversing biodiversity loss across the country, bit by bit, we’re getting there, protecting prime lands and waters that serve up some of the most important habitats for imperilled species.” He added that the projects are also aiding in the fight against climate change. Guilbeault said about $50 million of the funding is slated for major projects in the province. …Other projects being funded through the federal Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund will take place in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec.

WINNIPEG, MB – Conserving and restoring nature is fundamental for capturing harmful greenhouse gas emissions by pulling more carbon dioxide out of the air, while also safeguarding the places and species that are part of who we are as Canadians. The Government of Canada has launched the largest conservation campaign in the country’s history in order to meet its emissions reduction targets and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The government of Canada announced over $11 million for two major greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects funded through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. These projects will aim to fight climate change in Manitoba while benefiting biodiversity by safeguarding carbon-rich ecosystems from destruction to keep carbon in the ground… Canada is investing heavily in nature-based climate solutions that restore degraded ecosystems, create new protected areas, improve land management practices, and plant two billion new trees. 

It’s the time of the year when the sun shines, the flowers bloom, and young western toads make their dangerous trek into the forest. “Be on the lookout for the wonderful little local amphibians, the western toad…” advised Doug Fraser, president of Nature Nanaimo. “I think a lot of people mistakenly associate frogs with water, and while it is true all of our frogs lay their eggs and develop in the water as tadpoles, many of them live in the forests.” Western toads are a species of concern due to habitat loss. Once a year, during spring, they travel to wetlands with shallow, sandy bottoms to lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch, hundreds to thousands of small black tadpoles swim together, feeding on aquatic plants, until their metamorphosis into toadlets is complete. Then, during a brief time frame sometime in July or August, the toads make the treacherous journey into the forest.

It didn’t take many hot July days to dry out the forest floor on southern Vancouver Island enough to trigger an “extreme” fire-danger rating. And the recent spate of hot weather is not expected to end any time soon in Greater Victoria and other Island communities. “It’s going to keep drying out those forest fuels and it’s going to get them really susceptible to ignition,” said Sam Bellion, information officer for the Coastal Fire Centre. Bellion said the extreme fire-danger rating is in effect from Victoria to Shawnigan Lake, and from the Hillbank area of Duncan to Nanaimo — including Gabriola Island. Most of the rest of the Island is rated “high” for fire danger, and that won’t change without a good dousing of rain, Bellion said. Colwood Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Greg Chow said the public needs to be aware of the extreme fire danger…

It’s another landmark moment for champions of conservation and the B.C.’s northern spotted owl. A month after Justice Yvan Roy ruled that Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault broke the law, the federal government released an updated version of their spotted owl’s recovery strategy plan that identifies the species’ critical habitat for the first time. Specifically, the new plan identifies that over 400,000 hectares of land in B.C. is critical habitat for the spotted owl.This includes two watersheds within Spuzzum Nation territory along the lower Fraser Canyon, near Hope and Boston Bar. …While news of the critical habitat identification is being being welcomed by all groups, both Ecojustice and Wilderness Committee stress that “immediate on-the-ground action is required.” They also said that waiting another five years is unacceptable and all logging must end immediately in the owl’s habitat while recovery plans are further developed.

The last time we took a deep look at the forest industry in BC, in May, we noted, “At this point, the outlook of BC’s forest sector is full of red ink and red flags,” and,“The current policy environment has been anything but stable and anything but clear.” We went on to note that Premier David Eby had appointed Langley MLA Andrew Mercier as Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry Innovation. Mercier’s official mandate letter from the Premier spells out that there is a need to increase fibre supply, aimed at keeping people working and local operations running, while also mitigating wildfire risks and reducing climate emissions. So what’s been happening?

The City of Vancouver and a contractor are facing a lawsuit by advocates over a plan that would see up to a third of the trees in Stanley Park cut down. The city’s park board had begun cutting down thousands of trees last summer in a bid to mitigate what it said was “imminent” fire and public safety risks posed by dead and dying trees that were affected by a Western hemlock looper moth infestation. …However, four advocates from the Stanley Park Preservation Society say the park board’s plan is not backed up by science and was pushed through without appropriate consultation. They have filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court alleging the city and its contractor B.A. Blackwell & Associates was negligent in going ahead with the tree-cutting plan. …The city states that they have planted over 25,000 seedlings in the park comprising a variety of species, as part of their reforestation efforts.

CEO Letter: The First Nations Forestry Council and all our Nations continue to work towards being full participants in all facets of forestry, and we are making progress by being in the rooms and sitting at the tables. We attended some excellent conferences and want to acknowledge the efforts of all the organizations to showcase First Nations content, highlighting both successes and challenges. Through these interactions, we are developing stronger relationships that allow us to have hard conversations. I see that we are not just saying we will work together, but we are all at the table, truly collaborating to develop shared decisions. 

Other stories include:

• 2024 BC First Nations Forestry Conference Feedback
• Thank you to all who attended the 2024 BC First Nations Forestry Conference!
• First Annual Youth Forestry Conference a Success
• First Annual Youth Forestry Conference a Success

Drought-like conditions in Banff National Park have led to a fire ban being issued – meaning no campfires starting on Saturday. Lighting or maintaining fires is prohibited in the park effective July 13 at 12:01 a.m., Parks Canada announced in a news release Friday. The ban includes all front and backcountry campgrounds. “After several days of hot, dry weather, Banff is experiencing drought-like conditions,” Parks Canada said. “This fire ban is to ensure the safety of visitors, and residents, and for the protection of park infrastructure.” …While naturally occurring wildfires, like ones caused by lightning strikes, cannot be avoided, Parks Canada asked everyone to do their part to prevent human-caused fires. …Earlier this week, Alberta Wildfire announced a fire ban for the entirety of the province’s Forest Protection Area.

When the B.C. NDP was re-elected in 2020… one of the pillars of the party’s campaign was a promise to implement “the full slate” of recommendations an expert panel known as the Old Growth Strategic Review had made that same year. …Instead, the last several years have followed an all-too-familiar pattern: while the province fumbles on its commitments, old growth falls; forest defenders are arrested; mills close; and ecosystems are pushed further toward the brink of collapse by major timber companies. …The places left disproportionately open to logging are the same places where private logging companies like West Fraser and Canfor are targeting old growth right now. …With just a few months before B.C. goes to the polls again, time is running out for the NDP to recommit to its 2020 promises and rebuild the trust of a voter base that continues to overwhelmingly support old growth protections. 

Vernon, BC — Vernon Fire Chief David Lind likens the Interior B.C. city’s new artificial-intelligence-driven wildfire detection system to a fire alarm in the forest. The system involves cameras and scores of air sensors scattered among trees and other high points, collecting data that is fed into an AI system for analysis. Its creator, Vancouver-based tech firm SenseNet, says it warns firefighters when it detects a pattern indicative of ignition and allows for a response within minutes instead of an hour or more when using traditional visual detection. “It’s an exciting technology in that it’s really applying almost that fire-alarm system that we see in large buildings, where you’ve got every section of the building covered by some type of a monitor feeding back into a system that provides early notification to everyone … and almost taking that and applying it in an outdoors setting,” Lind said.

If there’s one constant in Prince George, it’s our influx of tree planters and brushers every summer. … Young, fresh-eyed big-city-looking kids out on the frontier doing their big Canadian experience: Colonizing the landscape with industrial plantations of pine and spruce trees to starve out moose and make fires worse. …I highly doubt the majority of them know what it is they are doing. Not in the sense that they don’t know how to plant trees, but more like what the big-picture result of their labour will be. …Our forest industry is brainwashing entire generations of young Canadians about what has worth in our forests and what doesn’t. Many tree planters go on to have careers in journalism, literature, academia, and philosophy. We should not underestimate how tree planting is contributing to the intellectual corruption of our elite.

Twenty-one years after the spotted owl was listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, the federal government released a proposed recovery strategy identifying critical habitat for the old-growth forest dependent owl. The strategy reinstates about 200,000 hectares of the owl’s critical habitat in southwest B.C. that was quietly erased from maps in a draft recovery strategy last year. …The updated recovery strategy includes an additional 200,000 hectares of spotted owl critical habitat that was not erased from maps — for a total of 416,258 hectares of critical habitat on federal and non-federal lands. The environmental law charity Ecojustice, non-profit conservation group the Wilderness Committee and Spô’zêm First Nation hailed the updated recovery strategy as a “game-changer for conservation efforts” for the spotted owl and a “historic win.” …The release of the proposed recovery strategy launches a 60-day consultation period. A final recovery strategy will be published once consultations are complete.

Additional coverage by Stefan Labbé, the Wilderness Committee, Ecojustice, and the Government of Canada Strategy document.